Division III Men

Five Straight: Denison Beats OWU Again

from press release

DELAWARE, Ohio - The No. 13 Big Red outscored Ohio
Wesleyan 8-3 in the second half en route to a 12-6 win over the
Battling Bishops from Selby Field in Delaware, Ohio. The win was
the fifth-straight for Denison in the rivalry which has existed
since 1958. It also marked the eighth victory out of the last nine
meetings for the Big Red against OWU.

After the two teams failed to score over the opening seven
minutes, the Big Red went on a 3-0 run to close out the first
quarter of play thanks to goals from Colin Molloy (Stamford,
Conn./Fairfield Prep), Emmett Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air
Academy) and Davis Lukens (Marietta, Ga./Holy Innocents') off an
assist by Alex Hardt (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal).

The second quarter's momentum would belong to the Battling
Bishops as they got goals by Pat Bassett, Colin Short and Drew
Scharf. In the middle of OWU's three-goal second-quarter, Jones
would score off a feed from Kyle Brown (Glenview, Ill./New Trier)
which sent the two teams into halftime with DU on top, 5-3.

In the second half, with the game hanging in the balance the Big
Red took control from the onset, scoring the first three goals of
the quarter. They did so by shooting efficiently while forcing Ohio
Wesleyan into five turnovers in the quarter. The Big Red also did a
tremendous job of battling for possession, winning a game-high nine
ground balls in the third.

Leading 8-4 heading into the fourth quarter, Molloy and Jones
would go back-to-back with goals for the second-time this
afternoon, pushing DU's lead to six with just over 10 minutes to
play. Two goals by the Bishops cut the Denison advantage back to
four but senior middie Tanner Smith (Boxford, Mass./Brooks School)
put the game away with two scores over the final six minutes of
play, setting the final at 12-6.

In potentially his last game against Ohio Wesleyan, Jones had
another outstanding afternoon on the offensive end. He led all
scorers with four goals via seven shots, running his career goal
total against OWU to 17 in five games. He also moved into fourth
place on the Denison all-time goal scoring list with 119 goals. He
needs only three more goals to move past Mike Riehl and into
third-place.

Following Jones in the scoring column was Smith who tallied two
goals and one assist while gathering three ground balls. Cory
Couture (San Diego, Calif./Coronado) posted two goals and one
assist and Molloy also scored twice. Brown and Hardt were the
assist leaders with two apiece, and sophomore Spencer Riehl
(Reisterstown, Md./St. Paul's) led the way with five ground
balls.

Ohio Wesleyan attempted 29 shots but the majority sailed high
and wide of the goal. Sophomore goalie Nick Petracca (Manhasset,
N.Y./Loomis Chaffee) played all 60 minutes but was forced to make
only three saves. On the other end, Denison took 34 shots and kept
OWU goalie Stephen Ford busy, making 11 saves on the day.

Eight penalties were committed on the day and both teams went
1-for-4 in extra-man situations. Denison's lone man-up goal came in
the fourth quarter when Smith scored off a pass from Hardt.

Today's game was the 87th meeting in the all-time series.
Denison leads the series 44-42-1.

The Big Red's next contest will be on Tuesday (April 5) when
they travel to Oberlin College for a 7 p.m. face-off with the
Yeomen. Denison improves to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in North Coast
Athletic Conference play while OWU falls to 5-3 and 1-1 in the
conference.